Thread: Barber Hone Lapping

Thanks for all the input gents,

I lapped the hone with a 325 DMT and it seemed to smooth it out right away. I tried about 10 circular laps around the scratch under running water. There also seemed to be a lot of dirt/debris or I guess blade material left on the hone.

Then I tried it on an old beat up razor and it put a slight edge back on to it. I did not feel the scratch anymore. The razor even cut some forearm hairs.

I did not take off too much just enough to remove the scratch and debris.

Thanks again all!

Originally Posted by randydance062449

When you do lap it be sure to use a lot of water on the hone and rinse the swarf off very frequently. You don't want to destroy that DMT 325.

After you have used the 325 then move up the grit ladder to 1000 grit wet/dry sandpaper, use it wet. That will give you a nice smooth texture on the hone surface. This will be the one and only time you will ever need to lap that hone.

Hope this helps,

How can I destroy a 325 by lapping a barber's hone? What exactly happens? I assume by your post that using plenty of water will prevent destroying the DMT.

Thanks for the advice!

Originally Posted by Zorro

How can I destroy a 325 by lapping a barber's hone? What exactly happens? I assume by your post that using plenty of water will prevent destroying the DMT.

Thanks for the advice!

Barber hones are usually extremely hard, which means they put a lot of wear and tear on whatever you use to lap them. Even a DMT will wear out eventually, and if you get too much gunk from lapping in there, it can ruin a DMT.

That being said, I always lapped my barber hone on my DMT. I tried wet/dry sandpaper once, and it was just too slow.


You also did right by going JUST far enough to get rid of the scratch. Because barber hones are so hard, they are very slow to dish, and very slow to glaze. They need very little lapping.

hey post us a picture of the finished job

Originally Posted by Zorro

How can I destroy a 325 by lapping a barber's hone? What exactly happens? I assume by your post that using plenty of water will prevent destroying the DMT.

Thanks for the advice!

When you lap it develops a slurry composed of the binder & abrasives in the hone. That is called "swarf". If the swarf becomes to thick it starts to abrade the soft Nickel that the diamonds are embedded into. Then the diamonds fall out. Moral of the story is to keep the swarf from building up.
As a bunch of us have found out and as DMT states do not use any DMT finer than 325 for lapping for just that reason. Thats why I suggested sandpaper to finish the job. Years ago I destroyed 2 diamond plates, a 400 grit & a 1200 grit, by lapping with them and not flushing out the swarf very frequently. IMHO the process should be done under running water at a minimum.

Hope this helps,

Originally Posted by KalgoorlieBoi

hey post us a picture of the finished job

The dark line about 1/3 of the way over from the right hand side running from north to south right above the 03 in the March date stamp.

Oh, One last question about barber honing: strop first then barber hone or vice a versa?

Thanks all.

Use the barber hone for 4 to 6 strokes whenever you feel a diminishment in the quality of your shave. You can lubricate the hone with water and a little lather. Always strop after using the hone and strop before every shave.

Originally Posted by Utopian

Use the barber hone for 4 to 6 strokes whenever you feel a diminishment in the quality of your shave. You can lubricate the hone with water and a little lather. Always strop after using the hone and strop before every shave.

Beautiful thanks much.

I can't tell if you have done it from the photo, but you also should slightly round over the edges of the long sides of the hone using either a diamond plate or sandpaper. By slightly chamfering the transition from the top to the side of the hone, you reduce the risk of damaging your edge if you slightly tip your blade while honing.

Originally Posted by Utopian

I can't tell if you have done it from the photo, but you also should slightly round over the edges of the long sides of the hone using either a diamond plate or sandpaper. By slightly chamfering the transition from the top to the side of the hone, you reduce the risk of damaging your edge if you slightly tip your blade while honing.

Yes, great point. I tried that a little bit last night but didn't want to overdo it. I didn't want to damage my 325. I'll pick up some wet/dry sandpaper as mentioned before.